Across two cross-sectional samples (N-total = 612), we examined how people’s ideological orientations related to their attributions about the causes of homelessness, and how these attributions relate to policy preferences. In both studies, we assessed eight ideological orientations, four domains of attributions about homelessness, and three domains of policy attitudes. In Study 1, we measured attributions using self-report scales, whereas in Study 2 we measured qualitative answers that were coded using a large language model (ChatGPT 4o). Across both studies, stronger right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and protestant work ethic (PWE) related to endorsing more internal-controllable attributions for homelessness, and stronger conservatism related to less endorsement of external-controllable attributions. Lower endorsement of external-controllable attributions related to less support for economic policies to address homelessness in society. Theoretical and practical applications of these findings are discussed, along with limitations and future directions.

Even as the pandemic wanes in public interest, understanding vaccine hesitancy remains critically important. This study examined how attitudes towards science mediate the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and prominent psychosocial predictors: political ideology, religiosity, reactance proneness, dogmatism, perceived ostracism, and precarity. We analyzed the structure of people’s attitudes towards science, revealing four factors: belief that science is objective, belief that science and technology are beneficial, trust in science in general, and trust in medical science. With these as mediators in a saturated path analysis, low trust in medical science and lacking belief that science is objective fully mediated the relationships between nearly all predictors and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Political conservativism’s negative association with vaccine hesitancy was partially mediated by the same two factors. Trust in science in general was not a significant mediator once all four facets were included in the model. These findings are discussed with a focus on their implications for understanding attitudes towards science and their complex role in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.